To Win the Lady (33 page)

‘No, he did not
know I was coming. I thought once he knew I was prepared to face danger to join
him he would see the right of it.’

‘You mean he
did not want to marry you?’ Georgie asked incredulously.

‘Oh, yes, he
wants to very much. It is simply that he thought I ought to receive Major
Baverstock and reject him and then he would feel free to offer for me.’

‘Quite right
too,’ their aunt put in.

‘But I
couldn’t,’ she said, addressing her aunt. ‘You had told me so often I should
not disappoint Georgie and I knew that once the Major stood in front of me I
should go into a quake and not be able to stand against him.’

‘Oh, you
foolish, foolish, girl,’ Georgie said, hugging her. ‘He is not such an ogre; he
would have accepted your decision like the gentleman he is. And why could you
not tell me all this?’

‘You had a
fall, you remember, and I could not worry you. And then you went home to Rowan
Park and I went to Richmond and it all seemed so hopeless.’

‘How did you
meet Lord Barbour? He was supposed to be riding in that race.’ How long ago
that seemed now, but it was only the night before last.

‘I had to
change coaches in Bedford and take another one for Grantham to bring me back on
to the Great North Road. It set me down at the Angel. Oh, Georgie, the town was
so crowded; the race had caught everyone’s attention and there were so many
people, and they had nearly all taken drink. The inn was full and they would
not let me have a room. I walked down the road to the George, but that was even
worse.

‘It was then I
saw Lord Barbour, talking to Mr Baverstock, only I did not know it was Mr
Baverstock then. I thought his lordship was going to marry you and I could
trust him. I told him the whole and he asked me if I minded him confiding in
his friend, Mr Baverstock. I didn’t know what to do but as he was a relative of
the Major I agreed. Mr Baverstock said I could stay at his house for the night.
It was not far away and there would be other guests. He said he would take me
to York the next morning.

‘Only there
were no other guests. They made me come up to this room, said it would be best
because there would be bound to gossip if anyone saw me.’ She turned to his
lordship who had been sitting quietly, listening to what was being said and
trying to shake off the most appalling headache. ‘I am sorry to speak uncivilly
of Mr Baverstock, my lord,’ she said. ‘But they are hand in glove in whatever
it is.’

‘I know.’

‘The
highwaymen,’ Georgie said suddenly. ‘Lord Barbour was expecting Jem. She
stopped suddenly. ‘And your nephew?’

‘I believe so.’

‘But why?’

He smiled. ‘I
believe he had a yearning to be Viscount Dullingham, or, to be exact, his wife
decided she wanted to be a viscountess. It was her mother, my second wife, who
put the idea into her head and as she could not have Richard she settled for
the next in line. While my son and I were estranged, she knew she was on safe
ground, but when Richard came home and William told her that I had hinted I
might change my will back to what it was, she urged William to do something
about it before it was too late. Hence the highwaymen. When they learned that I
had seen my lawyer and it was already too late, Richard became the target. A
fatal accident during the race seemed to be the ideal opportunity.’

He smiled
again, though his lip had been split and it was a painful thing to do. ‘You
foiled that, my dear. Lord Barbour thought he did not have to complete the race
because his opponent was out of it and he had won by default. He hinted as much
last night.’

‘But how did he
persuade Lord Barbour to agree to such a thing?’

‘He didn’t need
much persuading. He is in debt up to his ears at Baverstock’s bank and he
needed more money to finance the race to York. My guess is that William offered
to write off the debt and stand buff for the expenses.’

‘Will he try again?’
She could not sit still and got up to pace the room. ‘Perhaps he has already
done so. I must find out what has happened.’

She did not
care that they all looked very strangely at her. She did not care about
anything except finding the man she loved before Lord Barbour did. William
Baverstock had sent him away because it had been expedient at the time to do
so, but she did not believe he had really given up. And, judging by the look in
Lord Dullingham’s eyes, he didn’t think so either. If Lord Barbour did
William’s dirty work for him, no blame would attach to him, especially as he
had witnesses to prove he had been at Missen House, with none other than
Viscount Dullingham himself.

‘Will Mr
Baverstock let us go?’ she asked him. ‘He won’t try and keep us here, will he?’

But he did,
telling them that although he had sent Lord Barbour packing he had to give him
time to show a clean pair of heels. He was, or had been, a friend, and he was a
peer of the realm. He required them, very politely, to have patience for a
couple of hours. Two hours! And in that time Richard could die!

‘We’ll have to
stop and change the horses soon,’ John said, looking down at his friend, who
lay slumped across the opposite seat, trying to sleep.

The race was
won, though it had taken all of twelve hours and not the nine Richard had
anticipated, and it had proved too much for his opponent, who had failed to
arrive at all. There had been a day of celebration and catching up on lost
sleep, but now they were on the way home. John, however, who was supposed to be
responsible for the arrangements for the return journey, had neglected to send
on ahead for horses to be ready and, though they had managed the first few
changes, when they’d arrived at Grantham there had been none to be had, either
at the Angel or the George.

‘Can’t imagine
why you are in such haste,’ Richard grumbled, without opening his eyes.

‘I should have
thought you would be anxious to get back yourself.’ John paused, impatient to
know. ‘Have you spoken to Felicity?’

‘No.’ Richard
opened his eyes and looked at his friend, guessing what had prompted the
question. ‘I have not been given the opportunity.’

‘Then you must
do so the minute you return.’

‘I intend to.
But is it any of your business?’

John took a
deep breath. ‘Indeed it is.’

Richard sat up;
now he would hear the truth. ‘You? And Felicity?’

‘Yes. I’m
sorry.’ He could not understand why Richard was grinning from ear to ear.

‘Why be sorry?
I am delighted. My felicitations. You have saved my life.’ He looked out of the
window, suddenly impatient with their progress; he longed to go to Rowan Park
and tell Georgie, to take her in his arms again... The pleasure of anticipation
filled him. ‘Where are we?’

‘I believe the
Melton Mowbray turn is just coming up.’

‘Then that’s
where we’ll go.’ He put his head out of the window and shouted instructions to
the driver. Then, withdrawing his head, he added, ‘My father has a shooting box
not five miles from here. There are bound to be horses there.’

The driver
checked the horses and the carriage began to turn, but it never completed the
manoeuvre. The driver shouted, the horses shrieked and the coach rolled over
with an ear-splitting rending sound. ‘Damnation!’ Richard said, extricating
himself from the wreckage. ‘Are you all right, John?’

‘Yes.’

Richard hauled
himself out of the door, which was above his head, and pushed it open. Their
horses were lying in a heap, neighing and struggling to free themselves. The
driver had been thrown clear and was sitting in the ditch, shaking his head in
a daze, but apparently unhurt. The two men scrambled out and it was then that
they discovered the curricle. They had collided with it on the corner and it
now lay in a mangled heap of splintered wood and broken wheels. Its horse had
broken free and was cantering back the way it had come, reins trailing.

‘The driver!’
Richard said, and began pulling at the wrecked curricle. ‘He’s here. My God,
it’s Barbour!’

They hauled him
out, but without the protection of a hood his skull had taken the full force of
the crash. There was no doubt he was dead.

‘Now what?’
John said.

It was while
they were laying the body on the grass verge that they heard the sound of
horses and looked up to see a dilapidated old coach bearing down on them. It
drew to a stop as it reached them and Richard was astonished to see Bert Dawson
sitting on the box. Before he could ask him what he was doing there, the
carriage door opened and Georgie jumped down and flung herself into his arms.
He was vaguely aware that there were other people getting out of the coach, but
he took no notice as he held her close and kissed her tenderly.

At last,
realising they had an audience, they drew apart. ‘I was afraid,’ she said.
‘Lord Barbour meant to kill you.’

‘He’s dead,’ he
told her, jerking his head at the body.

She shivered at
the sight of it. ‘Mr Baverstock would not let us come after him; he was in the
plot, you know, but Lord Dullingham has said he will give no more trouble
because his bank won’t stand the scandal. He didn’t mean to let us go until
Lord Barbour had got clean away, but Dawson thought there was something amiss
when we didn’t go back to the coach and he rushed in to rescue us and what with
his lordship telling Mr Baverstock just what he thought of him and Dawson
getting his gun...’

Richard laughed,
though he still held her very tightly, as if afraid to let her go. ‘Hold on,
you’re going too fast.’ Then he caught sight of his father and Mrs Bertram and
Felicity, who was standing with John’s arm about her, which didn’t seem to
surprise him at all. ‘My goodness, is the whole family here?’

‘Yes, and such
a long story it is.’

‘I think we had
better return to Missen House,’ said his lordship, eyes twinkling. ‘We shall
all be more comfortable going over what has happened there. And we can decide what
explanation we are going to give to the world about how we all came to be
here.’ He turned to speak to Dawson, who was helping Richard’s driver to
extricate the horses. ‘Any damage there?’

‘Nothing
serious, my lord.’ He led one of them on to the road, while the driver brought
the other. ‘We’ll walk them back.’

‘Good.’ His
lordship decided to take control because his son and the young captain both
seemed reluctant to let go of the Misses Paget. He ordered Lord Barbour’s body
to be put over one of loose horses and everyone else into the coach. ‘I’ll
drive,’ he said, making Richard smile, but he did not argue.

It was a
dreadful squeeze and the two loving couples were constrained by the presence of
Mrs Bertram, though that dear lady seemed to be in a daze. She kept shaking her
head from side to side and saying, ‘Oh, dear, oh, dear. Whoever would have
thought it?’

Georgie was
quiet; there would be time for explanations later, but now it was enough that
she had Richard beside her and he would be beside her for the rest of her life.
She reached for his hand and smiled up at him. He bent his head and whispered
in her ear, ‘I love you, Georgie Paget. Will you marry me?’

‘Shh...’ She
indicated the other occupants of the coach but John and Felicity were
whispering with their heads together and her aunt was nodding off again. She
smiled. ‘Yes, Oh, yes, please.’ Her beloved Rowan Park was safe, her horses
were safe and, best of all, she was safe and Richard loved her. What more could
a girl ask?